Method and apparatus for automatic network connection between a small business and a client

ABSTRACT

An Internet system for providing call-back services for a subscriber includes a web page having a call-back link to a subscription server; a call-back application operating on the subscription server and adapted for accepting input from a browsing person linked to the subscription server by the call-back link; and a call-switching system connected to and responsive to the call-back application on the subscription server. In this system the browsing person, upon activating the call-back link, is linked to the call back application on the subscription server and prompted for input including a call-back number, and the subscription server, after accepting the input, directs the call-switching system in establishing a telephony link between the subscriber and the browsing person. In some instances the telephony switch is part of a call-center with connected agents, and agents are assigned to represent selected subscribers. In this instance call-back connection is made between a browsing person and an agent. In some embodiments connections can be made either by conventional telephony links or by Internet telephone. In some instances as well provision is made for delivery of a full range of multi-media services from a subscriber to a browsing person.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is in the field of Internet network-communicationsystems and has particular application to methods and apparatus for thedirect linking of an individual to a small business via automaticlinking from a Web page.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Continued development of hardware and software applications to aid inbusiness advertisement, coupled with explosive growth of the globalnetwork called the Internet, has motivated small businesses to maintainat least one computer that is dedicated to the purpose of advertisingthat business's products and services on-line. There are, at the presenttime, many small businesses who are advertising their products andservices on the Internet. Many such small ventures are very limited incapital and must be very cautious about where they invest their money,especially, when it comes to advertisement, and most utilize variousservices provided by second parties for founding and maintaining a WEBpage, such as an Internet Service Provider.

Larger companies and corporations, having much larger budgets dedicatedto advertising, use the Internet and their own on-premisesnetworking-telephony equipment to set up their own interactive on-lineenvironments. By clicking an icon on a Web page, a customer can becomeconnected to a private company sales and service network, receive goodsand services, pay via Internet-secure transfer applications, and so on.Often, these corporate giants provide multi-media files such assurround-video shows of products, on-line catalogs, audio/video files,and the like. Typically, a potential customer can download such files tohis or her PC or watch them on the Web page via an external viewerdesigned for that purpose. In some cases, the customer can enter his orher phone number and ask for a scheduled or immediate callback.

As Web page advertising via the Internet is still under some scrutiny asto whether or not it is generally profitable, many of the largerbusinesses are taking a wait and see approach while keeping with asimpler form of Web page advertisement wherein a customer can click anicon and receive a call back or a mailing at a later date. Even for alarge business with sufficient capital, setting up a telephony-networkfor providing multi-media media advertising is no casual undertaking.There are many variables to be considered when making such advertisingdecisions. One important consideration would be whether or not themarket demographics of the target customer group would fit an Internetprofile. For example, if the product or service can only be sold orperformed locally, or within a certain geographical radius, it will notpay to invest in global exposure. If the target customer group is low inthe percentage of persons having Internet access, it may not pay toadvertise on-line. However, if the product or service is of a type as tobe provided through mail order, or through some other criteria, appealsto a mass customer base, then setting up a private network system may bethe way to go. As well, large companies feeling the pressure from likecompetitors who have their own networks are often drawn into themuti-media advertising game and set up similar networks so as not to beleft behind.

There are at the time of this application many small companies which mayinclude home-based businesses that offer products or services thatappeal to mass customer groups. However, due to limited capital, thesecompanies cannot afford to purchase sophisticated equipment such as fileservers, routers, computers or other such apparatus that may be requiredto set up a private service network. A good many of these smallorganizations would love to grow beyond the infant stage and becomemajor players in their fields, however, money constraints often severelylimit the amount and quality of exposure that such a small businesswould receive through advertising. Typically, if these companiesadvertise on the Internet they may have only one Web page with a briefdescription of their products and services followed by an E-mail addressand phone number where they can be reached. Interactive advertisementswherein multiple Web pages are maintained and network connections can bemade, are generally reserved for businesses with more money to invest.The smaller organizations also typically turn to ISPs or other providersfor maintaining a WEB page.

Through the growth of the Internet and the ability to network with othersmall businesses, many owners of small businesses have managed to obtainlinks on the Web pages of non-competitive business associates resultingin multiple links to their single Web page. While this may improveaccess to their particular Web page, it does not provide for the scopeof sales and service capabilities afforded by a much larger corporationmaintaining several Web pages and supporting a connectableservice-network.

What is clearly needed is a method and apparatus whereby a smallbusiness, such as a home-based business, could have a directnetwork-connection with their potential clients wherein real-timeinterface and multi-media response to potential customers could beprovided in a flexible manner and at a relatively low cost to thebusiness owner. Such capability could be provided to the small businessas a service by the Internet Service Provider (ISP) or by yet anotherparty. In embodiments of the invention taught below, such a service isreferred to as ‘Green Pages’.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In a preferred embodiment of the present invention an Internet systemfor providing call-back services for a subscriber is provided,comprising a subscription call-back server adapted for accepting inputfrom a browsing person linked to the call-back server; a web page havinga jump link to the subscription call-back server; and a call-switchingsystem connected to and responsive to the call-back server. In thissystem the browsing person, upon activating the WEB page jump link, islinked to the call-back server and prompted for input including acall-back number, and the call-back server, after accepting the input,directs the call-switching system in establishing a telephony linkbetween the subscriber and the browsing person.

In a preferred embodiment the call-switching system comprises atelephony server (T-Server) connected to a telephony switch by acomputer-telephony integration (CTI) link, and the T-Server is adaptedto accept directions from the call-back server and to direct thetelephony switch in establishing the telephony link between thesubscriber and the browsing person. The call-back server in some aspectsaccepts one or both of a telephone number and an IP address or e-mailaddress from the browsing person, the telephony switch has anInternet-capable port, and the T-Server, in response to input from thecall-back server establishes one or both of a telephone link and anInternet link between the subscriber and the browsing person. In someembodiments the system further comprises an IVR server connected to thetelephony switch an adapted to provide IVR services over the connectionprovided by the call-switching system. Also in some the call-back serveris adapted to accept instructions from a browsing person including arange of multi-media services.

In an alternative embodiment of the invention the system comprises acall-center operable through the telephony switch under control of theT-Server, the call-center comprising agent stations having each apersonal computer with a video display unit (PC/VDU) connected on aLocal Area Network (LAN) to the T-Server, and a telephone connected tothe telephony switch, wherein the T-Server, in response to input fromthe call-back server is adapted to establish connections betweenbrowsing persons and connected agents, and to present data elicited frombrowsing persons on the VDUs at the agent stations.

In another aspect of the invention a subscription call-center isprovided, comprising a telephony switch having a telephone trunk lineconnection to a public switched telephony network (PSTN); a plurality ofagent stations connected to the telephony switch; and a CTI Server(T-Server) connected to the telephony switch by a CTI link, the T-Serverhaving a digital link to an Internet-connected call-back server. Thecall-back server stores subscriber information and accepts input frombrowsing persons seeking connection to agents for the subscribers, andthe call-back server, directed by a browsing person providing acall-back number, directs the T-Server to command the telephony switchto establish a telephony connection between the browsing person and anagent for the subscriber.

In some embodiments the subscription call-center further comprises apersonal computer with a video display unit (PC/VDU) at each agentstation, the PC/VDUs interconnected on a local area network (LAN) withthe T-Server. In some of these embodiments the telephony switch has anInternet-capable port as well as a telephony trunk line, and thecall-back server accepts IP addresses, e-mail addresses as well astelephone numbers from browsing persons, and the T-Server is adapted tocause the telephony switch to establish one or both of conventionaltelephony calls and Internet telephone calls between agents and browsingpersons.

The embodiments of the invention, taught in further detail below,provide an ability for small businesses, such as home-based businesses,to flexibly provide for call-back services initiated from WEB page hits.Further, in some aspects, small businesses can now employ agents at acall-back call-center to represent their business interests, and enterinto sales and commission agreements with the agents. Further, thesubscribing small businesses can adjust their agent participation asneed dictates. Detail of embodiments providing all of these features aretaught below

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIGURES

FIG. 1 is an simplified overview of a telephony-network system inaccordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a simplified overview of a call center in accordance with analternative embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an illustrative view of interactive-routing software as usedin accordance with the embodiment shown in FIG. 2.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

FIG. 1 is a simplified overview of a telephony-network system inaccordance with an embodiment of the present invention wherein apotential customer can have real-time on-line access to a small businessadvertising on the Internet. In a preferred embodiment of the presentinvention, a small business 115 having a WEB page hosted by a thirdparty, such as his Internet Service Provider (ISP), would subscribe to aunique service that may be provided by his ISP or yet another provider.Through this service, a telephony-network system is made available topotential customers for the purpose of direct linking to small business115 in real-time and with multi-media capabilities.

In FIG. 1, premises 110 represents any of potential customer's PC 112and a telephone 111, which may be connected to the same telephone lineas shown, or, alternatively, may have dedicated telephone lines.Telephone 111 for example, may have an analog line and PC 112 an ISDNline. PC 112 has the capability (equipment and software) of accessingthe Internet by way of connection 150 to a Public Switched TelephoneNetwork (PSTN) 100. Modem bank 120 represents the potentialcustomer'ISP, which connects the potential customer's computer 112 toInternet domain 101. It will be clear to those with skill in the artthat multiple potential customers will have different ISPs and so forth,but one such connection is sufficient to illustrate embodiments of thepresent invention.

As a potential customer browses Internet Web sites, he may come acrossthe Web page of small business 115 which, in this embodiment, is locatedon a Web server 132, co-hosted by an ISP 130. It is not required thatthe small-business WEB page be provided by his/her ISP. It could resideanywhere in the Internet cloud that supports WEB pages. The ISPillustration is convenient. In various embodiments of the presentinvention, businesses subscribing to the unique Green Pages service ofthe present invention have a link incorporated in the WEB page to linkbrowsing parties to a Green Pages server 133. The link can be in any ofthe forms known in the art for jumping from a WEB page to anotherInternet destination, such as clicking on an icon or text message.Typically, placing the cursor in the display on an active link areaproduces a change in the cursor, such as a pointing finger, indicatingclicking a mouse button will activate a link (jump).

The Green Pages service may be provided, as shown, on a separate serverat the small business' ISP, at another server elsewhere on the Internet,or may even be a part of the server that hosts the small business homepage. It will be apparent to the skilled artisan that the residence ofsoftware and execution relative to platforms is somewhat arbitrary, andcan be accomplished in a number of ways.

Once the potential customer is transferred to Green Pages server 133 inthis particular embodiment, control routines on that server associatethe potential customer with the small business whose WEB page thepotential customer was viewing, and wherein the link was initiated. Atserver 133 the potential customer is presented with an input display,such as an inquiry form, to input specific information, such as thecustomer's telephone number, the type of connection desired, and soforth. For example, the customer may wish to speak with an agentimmediately by telephone, but may not want to be E-mailed and so on.Other information, such as name, address, etc., may be required oroptional.

Once the potential customer's input is made, which may be as simple asjust a phone number, a submit input initiates action of the responsesystem to the potential customer according to the instructions and datainput. In this particular embodiment a link 134 is opened to a processor142 executing a CTI application, termed by the inventors as a T-Server.Although in a stricter sense, the application is known as a T-Server,and may execute on various processors, it is simpler and more direct torefer to the platform and application together as the T-Server, whichconvention is followed below. T-Server 142 may be, as shown, a part of aseparate hardware grouping 140, wherein T-Server 142 is linked by a CTIconnection 144 to a telephony switch 141 and to an IVR server 143.Again, it will be apparent to the skilled artisan that T-Server 142,switch 141, and IVR 143 may be a part of a grouping as shown, may behosted by ISP 120 or by any other interested party receivingcompensation for maintaining the equipment. In one embodiment, equipmentgrouping 140 may be maintained by a telephone company which provides theservice for a small charge on the small business' telephone bill. Thereare many other ways the functionality taught herein may be implemented.

Referring back to FIG. 1, T-Server 142 in an embodiment of the presentinvention has a connection 144 to a telephony switch 141 for the purposeof initiating calls to small businesses such as small business 115 andto potential customers requesting a telephone connection. As is known inthe art, CTI servers may monitor and control operations of telephonyswitches by CTI link within the range of functionality provided byindividual such telephony switches. T-Server 142, following instructionsfrom server 133, initiates and completes these connections. For example,T-Server 142 may control switch 141 to initiate a call through PSTN 100to telephone 116 at small business 115 and to the potential customer'spremises 110 to telephone 112, and then, upon establishing the twocalls, connect them, completing the link from the customer to the smallbusiness.

Small business 115 and the customer at premises 110 can be linked viatelephone and in other ways as well. For example, also linked totelephony switch via line 144 is an IVR server 143 where additionalapplications may be stored such as voice mail, E-mail, Automatic Faxmessages, etc. For example, if the customer has input instructions toGreen Pages server 133 indicating a preference to receive information byfax, then IVR server 143 would be accessed and the customer could besent pre-stored information by facsimile.

In yet another embodiment, IVR server 143 can be used to provide a frontend to the small business owner by giving him/her options for treatingthe communications request. For example, the business owner might chooseto accept the call, to reject a call, to schedule a callback, or to askthe customer to leave a message or send an email.

If switch 141 has a TCP/IP connection capability and link 136, as in thepresent example, one option for the potential customer is to beconnected by Internet phone. In this instance the potential customerwill have provided an IP address. Switch 141 may then establish aconnection to the potential customer via link 136 through ISP 130.Instant communication could be established for customers indicating apreference for Internet-capable telephones, as described above.Similarly, there are certain WEB applications and or plug-ins to WEBbrowsers capable of transferring files in instant fashion that are knownin the art and could be incorporated by a small business to send filesto a customer having a compatible application. These mediums forcommunication are known in the art and could be incorporated into theservice and installed on a PC located at a small business. All thatwould be required of the customer is that he have the matching orcompatible type of communication program installed on PC 112.

Link server 133, as previously described, would list the communicationprograms available to the customer and offer a choice of preferredmethods. It will be apparent to one with skill in the art that eachserver in the network of FIG. 1 is not required to perform only onededicated function such as severs 132, 133, and 142 of FIG. 1, but canbe set up to perform multi-functions such as storing customer historiesor providing statistics related to success of the service provided, etc.Similarly, separate servers 132, 133, and 142 may be of the form of oneserver capable of storing and providing all the necessary informationand software to enable the desired network connection. However, in thisinstant embodiment, the inventor has chosen to represent the serverfunction of the present invention with separate servers for the purposeof clarity with regards to describing sever function.

The embodiment represented in FIG. 1 is unique partly by virtue of thefact that customers can be given the choice of several differentreal-time multimedia-communication methods that are known in the art andmade available in the form of software applications stored on a serverconnected to a PC, or on a PC installed at a small business such assmall business 115 that is made accessible to the customer viaautomatic-linking methods and software. Upon filling out a form andsubmitting the information, as described above, an online environment inthe form of a sales/service network is made available to the smallbusiness for a reasonable monthly subscription.

In one embodiment, a small business wishing to offer the customer a widevariety of communication options as well as multimedia files fordownload may invest in a file server for the purpose of storing suchfiles and applications. A sever such as this could be installed at thesmall business location and connected to a PC also installed at thesmall business and dedicated to interaction with customers requestingsuch information and communication.

In the embodiment of the invention above-described, a small business,such as a home business with very limited personnel and equipmentresources, can have call-back service through a WEB page much as isprovided by large companies through their own equipment platforms. Thereare, however some potential limitations in the above-describedembodiments of the invention. For example, the WEB advertising andcall-back service provided may well be successful enough to create asignificant call load for a small business. For a truly small business,such as a one or two-person home business, a manpower shortage couldquickly appear, there being more call-back business than the limitedpersonnel can handle. Further, many people WEB browsing are doing so inevening and weekend hours. This may place an additional burden on asmall business.

In recognition of the above possible difficulties, in an alternateembodiment of the present invention, an agent call-center is providedwherein independent sales agents represent subscriber businesses, andare trained as to the specific products and services offered by eachbusiness. This rent-an-agent call center can be implemented in a numberof ways, and in a preferred embodiment is implemented as a part ofequipment group 140 of FIG. 1. In this embodiment, the purpose of havinga call-center is that many small businesses do not have the manpower tohandle multiple-live calls that may result from many potential customersbrowsing their pages and attempting to link. As well, many customers arebrowsing for products or services after normal business hours such asfrom 6 PM on during the week, or perhaps, on a Sunday. The advantagehere is that “the store is always open, and someone is there to helpyou”.

FIG. 2 is a diagram of an agent call-center in an alternative embodimentof the present invention wherein the telephony-network of FIG. 1 isenhanced with a live callcenter comprising specially trained agents andassociated equipment, including software, to be operated and maintainedby a hosting organization, such as an ISP, perhaps the ISP of the smallbusiness and providing the Green Pages service. There may be a largenumber of small businesses subscribing to the service above-describedwherein the unique telephony-network of FIG. 1 is provided.

Referring now to FIG. 2, agent station 149 and agent station 151 arepart of equipment grouping 140 that now functions as a call center inthis instant embodiment of the present invention. Of course the callcenter might be anywhere in the network, and calls might be forwarded toone or more call center in fashion well-known to the inventor. Agentstation 149 has a PC with a video display unit (PC/VDU) 153 as well as atelephone 157. Similarly, agent station 151 has a PC/VDU 155 andtelephone 159. Telephones 157 and 159 are linked to telephony switch 141via line 161 and to their associated PC/VDU's. PC/VDU's 153 and 155 areinterconnected on a Local Are Network (LAN) 163 which also connects toIVR server 143 and to T-Server 142. The other connection shown are thosepreviously described with reference to FIG. 1.

It will be apparent to one with skill in the art that there could bemany more than the two agent stations shown, however two are shown inthis instant embodiment and are deemed sufficient by the inventor toadequately describe the invention. In this instant embodiment, IVRserver 143, as well as T-server 142 contain instances of a uniqueinteractive-routing software designed to enable agents to process anddispose of incoming data and instructions from Green Pages server 133.

In this embodiment, when a potential customer connects to Green Pagesserver 133 and inputs data and requests, server 133 via link 134activates routines in T-Server 142. Now, instead of placing a call tothe small business and the potential customer, then connecting the twocalls, the T-Server forwards the customer input data to an agent listedas serving the particular small business, calls the potential customer,and connects the potential customer with the agent selected.

There are, as will be apparent to the skilled artisan, many ways theinformation sent may be displayed to an agent, such as in the form oficons to be displayed on PC/VDU's 149 and 151. For example, afterrequested methods for communication to a particular business are chosenby a potential customer on the associated inquiry form in link server133 of FIG. 1, completed inquiry forms may be routed to a particularagent station assigned to the small business that has been selected bythe customer, such as agent station 149. This information includes themethod of communication chosen by the customer along with the smallbusiness information associated with it such as a locator number for thebusiness in a roster of the agent receiving the information, requestedtime for a connection, additional information such as the specific typeof product the customer is interested in, and so on. In a case such asthis, where a real-time telephone connection has not been requested, theagent at agent station 149 could re-route the customer to IVR server 143where the customer could leave voice mail, download product information,or receive an instant fax, etc. In alternative embodiments routing maybe directly to server 143 or similar server, and operation would be moreautomatic, as already described in previous embodiments above.

As described in the previous paragraph, incoming data from link server133 of FIG. 1 is routed to the particular agent with that business onhis roster. For example, an inquiry form requesting immediate telephoneaccess to small business 115 of FIG. 1 has been routed to agent station151 in the form of an icon indicating an incoming telephone call. Switch141 has made telephone contact with the customer and is queuing thecustomer until the agent at station 151 picks up the call. Onceconnected via phone, the agent may direct the customer to furtherservices or take an order, etc. Connections to IVR server 143 can alsobe initiated by the agent. Multimedia files and other informationrequested by a customer is sent via line 144 through telephony switch141 and through link 136 to the customers PC such as PC 112 of FIG. 1.As described above, applications that are interactive such as video,audio and the like can be sent with the agent helping the customer topick the appropriate file type etc. Furthermore, Internet telephoneapplications could be initiated with the customer and agent saving tollcharges and so on. Similarly, there are Internet file transfer programsavailable whereby the customer could be sent files by an agent using thesame program in an almost instant fashion. On-line secure paymentmethods may also be utilized in this environment.

It will be apparent to those with skill in the art that other routescould be utilized for the purposes of transferring data from the agentcall-center to the customer other than the one described in the aboveparagraph with reference to multimedia files. One possible route isthrough line 144, telephony switch 141, through line 136 and back viaInternet domain 101 of FIG. 1. There are typically many such routesavailable in an Internet-connected telephony network. Similarly,subscriber businesses may be located state-wide, nation-wide, orworld-wide depending upon the intent of the service provider that offersthe service

An agent operating in an enhanced telephony-network such as the onedescribed in this instant embodiment could perhaps derive a smallcommission from any sales orders made in this manner to be payable bythe particular business associated with that particular sale. If nosales are made, no commission is due. The monthly amount paid to theservice provider in this case supports the basic service, and may evenprovide a base salary for such agents. Commission sales representativesare known in the art and can obtain licenses to represent numerouscompanies from a separate location. In this instant embodiment,particulars such as commission structures and the like are worked out bythe participating parties.

The embodiment represented in FIG. 2 is unique partly by virtue of thefact that customers can be given the choice of several differentreal-time multimedia-communication methods that are known in the art andmade available in the form of software applications on a server that ismade accessible to the customer via automatic linking methods. Further,in the same embodiment, connection can also be made to a live agentutilizing a unique application adapted to enhance the disposition ofincoming requests in an environment that is a functioning on-linetelephony-network and is made available to a small business for areasonable monthly subscription.

As this instant embodiment with reference to FIG. 2 is meant to enhancethe previously described embodiments of FIG. 1, it will be apparent toone with skill in the art that while a call-center such as the onedescribed herein may be present and operating in the network, it is notrequired to be operating at all times. There are many configurations andschemes that could be employed in a network that is enhanced by such acall-center. For example, a small business could be given the choice ofthe extra service provided by the call-center, and be chargedappropriately for the service. In another embodiment, the call-centercould become operative only after normal business hours, or at timeswhen businesses are normally closed such as weekends, etc. In stillanother embodiment a call-enter enhancement may be offered to thosebusinesses that cannot handle the volume of inquiries such as might bethe case with a home-based business wherein only a few individuals arepresent at any given time. There are many such configurations possible,many of which have already been described.

Another feature and advantage of the call-center embodiments describedherein is that the service is flexible for changing needs. Many smallbusiness subscribers will not initially need the call-centerenhancement. As business grows a business may need to add thecall-center enhancement with a single agent, even part-time. As businessgrows further, more agent service may be incrementally added. Ifbusiness slacks off at certain times or seasons, agent use can becurtailed appropriately.

FIG. 3 is an example of an interactive display provided by routingsoftware as it is used in accordance with the call-center-enhancedembodiment of the present invention described with reference andillustration in FIG. 2, wherein a scrollable interactive window display301 is present on a PC/VDU such as PC/VDU 153 in agent station 149 ofFIG. 2. Various selectable icons represent different applications thatmay be manipulated by an agent to dispose of an incoming request. Forexample, incoming calls are represented by an icon 303 which furtherindicates that there are 2 such calls in a waiting queue. An icon 305represents a call that has been put on hold by the agent after it wasanswered. Icon 307 is a call in session whereby the agent is engaged inservicing the customer. Icons representing incoming calls have, in thisembodiment, come from link server 133 as customers requesting immediatetelephone connection. Requests for communication other than by telephonesuch as leaving voicemail, obtaining downloadable files and so on arerepresented by other icons (not shown) depicting the type ofcommunication desired. This incoming data can be re-routed to IVR server143 of FIG. 2, or in some embodiments, may by-pass the agent altogether.

Icon 309 represents an instance of an Internet-capable phone applicationinstalled either on IVR server 143 of FIG. 2 and accessible to theagent, or on PC/VDU 153 whereby a customer can elect to be phoned backwithout toll charges provided the customer has the required softwareinstalled on PC 112 of FIG. 1. An agent roster 311 is a list of all ofthe small businesses that are represented by this particular agent. Byclicking on agent roster 311, the agent opens the list of smallbusinesses and can then click on the appropriate business that thecustomer is requesting information about. After clicking on agent roster311, associated information files are opened and displayed in window 301such as an icon 315 representing the stored multimedia files fordownload, and an icon 317 representing text information for download.These files could be sent to the customer a number of ways. For example,a file server system represented by an icon 313 could be utilized by theagent to link the customer having the same application or compatibleapplication for the purposes of downloading the files in expedientfashion. These programs are faster than E-mail and often faster than adownload from a standard Web page. As well, many of these programs canoperate simultaneously while the customer is still browsing the Internetor working on a document, while at the same time, using anInternet-capable phone and downloading files with a file-serverapplication. Icons 319 and 321 represent standard communication options.Icon 323 represents agent identification and can be used to tag salesorders and the like.

It will be apparent to those with skill in the art that theconfiguration of an interactive-routing software as described above canbe accomplished in a number of ways. The interface, for example, may bea Graphic User Interface (GUI) wherein icons may be used to representcalls, applications, and other incoming requests, and the individualagent at one agent station may select to display icons as desired and asshown in FIG. 3. In an alternative embodiment an incoming request mayappear on an agent's PC/VDU as a text block with the text indicating thenature of the incoming request. In this instance programmable languagecould be used to further dispose of requests. It will further beapparent to one with skill in the art that features such as drag anddrop capabilities could be incorporated in the software and utilized byagents to initiate certain actions such as connecting a customer to IDNserver 143 of FIG. 2, or perhaps dropping a file onto the customers namein the file server system 313 for transfer and so on.

It will be apparent to one with skill in the art that there could bemany different hardware and software configurations present in atelephony-network such as the one described in the various embodimentsabove without departing from the spirit and scope of the presentinvention. For example, other servers could be present along withadditional processors running conventional routing software designed toroute information at locations other than in portions of the networkthat may be maintained by an ISP or other interested party. The hostingservice provider may have sharing arrangements with other networksalready in place and may make minor alterations to tailor the specificnetwork to meet it's intended service objectives such as adding servers,installing firewalls and so on. There are many different possibilities,many of which have already been described above. The invention islimited only by the claims which follow.

One of the options described above is that a potential customer mayprefer to be contacted by Internet phone, and would provide an IPaddress. It should therefore be apparent to the skilled artisan thatthere are options available in practicing the invention in use ofconventional intelligent network telephony or Internet (or Intranet)telephony for various calls to be placed. The invention is not limitedto one type of telephony system or service.

1. An Internet system for providing call-back services, comprising: acall-back server; a web page having a link to the call-back server; andan IP telephony call-switching system responsive to the call-backserver; wherein a person, upon activating the link, is linked to thecall-back server and the call-back server determines an IP address forthe person from connection activity initiated by the person and thecall-back server, after determining the IP address, directs thecall-switching system in establishing an IP telephony link between asubscriber and the person.
 2. The system of claim 1 wherein thecall-switching system comprises an IP telephony server (I-Server), andthe I-Server is adapted to accept directions from the call-back serverto establish the IP telephony link between the subscriber and theperson.
 3. The system of claim 2 further comprising an Integrated VoiceResponse (IVR) server connected to the IP call switching system andadapted to provide IVR services over the IP telephony link provided bythe call-switching system.
 4. The system of claim 1 wherein thecall-back server is adapted to accept instructions from the personincluding a range of multi-media services.
 5. The system of claim 3wherein the IVR server is adapted to provide to the subscriber a rangeof call disposition options.
 6. The system of claim 2 further comprisinga call-center operable through the IP call switching system undercontrol of the IP telephony server, the call-center comprising agentstations having each a personal computer with a video display unit(PC/VDU) connected on a Local Area Network (LAN) to the IP telephonyserver, wherein the IP telephony server, in response to input from thecall-back server is adapted to establish connections between the personsand connected agents, and to present data elicited from the persons onthe VDUs at the agent stations.
 7. A call-center, comprising: acall-back server operating an IP telephony call-switching system havingan Internet link; a plurality of agent stations connected to the callswitching system; wherein the call-back server accesses locally storedsubscriber information and accepts input from persons seeking connectionto agents for the subscribers, and the call-back server determines an IPaddress for a person from connection activity initiated by the person,and, upon activating a web-page link, directs the call-switching systemto establish an IP telephony connection between the persons and anagent.
 8. The call-center of claim 7 further comprising a personalcomputer with a video display unit (PC/VDU) at each agent station, thePC/VDUs interconnected on a local area network (LAN) with the call-backserver.
 9. A method for providing call-back services to a person onInternet, comprising steps of: (a) providing a link in a WEB page to acall-back server; (b) providing a mechanism for the call back server toaccept and determine an IP address for the person upon activating thelink; (c) operating an IP-telephony call switching system by thecall-back server to establish an IP telephony connection between theperson and a third party.
 10. The method of claim 9 wherein in step (b)the mechanism is enabled to elicit preferences from the person for arange of available multi-media services associated with the third party.11. The method of claim 9 wherein the IP telephony call-switching systemhas connected agent stations, and in step (c) the IP telephonyconnection is established between the person and an agent associatedwith the third party.